Natsarim April 16, 2016
Torah
Parashah - M’tzora ~ “Person afflicted with tzara’at
Uyiqara
(Leviticus) 14:1- 15:33 p 90 RSTNE
Who
we are .... Natzarim ....
**
Torah
- Uyiqara 14:1-15:33 p 90
**
From
time to time we have talked about what to call ourselves...
When
we first left the Sunday realm...we went by “Messianic” - because that is all
we knew...
.....and
then we stopped being that when we learned what that was... and
then
we’d just say “Torah observers who follow Mashiak” ... or just “studying from the Hebrew”....
Finally
I understand the NAME we are...
Over
and over and over again YHUH has taken me to two different Scriptures in the
book of Gilyahna (Revelation)
Gilyahna
(Revelation) 12:17
p 919
“And the dragon was angry with the
woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her zera (seed), that shomer
(watch, keep, observe, guard) the mitzvoth (instructions) of YHUH, and have the
testimony of Yahusha haMashiak.”
Gilyahna
(Revelation) 14:12
p 921
“Here is the endurance of the
Yisharalite kidushim (saints): here are those that shomer (watch, keep, observe
or guard) the mitzvoth (instructions) of YHUH, and the emunah (faith) of
Yahusha.”
And I read those a long time ago... and I thought - “That’s who we are!!”
But
what do you call these people???
YashaYahu
(Isaiah) 49:6
p 331 RSTNE
“And He said, It is a light, easy and
small thing that You should be My Eved (servant) to raise up the tribes of Yakov,
and to restore the preserved ones of Yisharal: I will also give You for a Light to the
heathen, that You may be My Yahusha to the ends of the earth.”
in
the BYNV (Besorah of Yahusha Natsarim Version)
“and He says, “Shall it be a small
matter for You to be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Yaaqub, and to bring
back the preserved ones of Yisharal?
And I shall give You as a light to the gentiles, to be My deliverance to
the ends of the arets!”.
Who
are these - “preserved ones of Yisharal” ??
***
The
foot note
in our Scriptures for this verse (p 331) has a lot of information:
“The early believers in Jerusalem,
Judah,, and Shomron (Efrayim’s former capital) were all called Notzrim,
Notsraei, or Netsarim Yisrael. They are
the “preserved ones” from both houses, from both the 721 BCE and the 586 BCE
exiles. Believers are the preserved
little branches, or notzrim of the main Vine, our Messiah Yahusha. The Hebrew word for branches is netsarim, the
same term used here for the “preserved ones”.
So we are all “preserved branches” of Yisharal.
Yirmeyahu
(Jeremiah) 31:6
p 372
“For there shall be a yom (day), that the called out Netsarim
Notsrim the ones who watch on the Mount Efrayim shall cry, Arise, and let us go
up to Tzion to YHUH our Alohim.”
foot note.... “The word Notzrim speaks of watchmen (guards)
appointed by YHUH and assigned to the task of watching over the restoration of
all Yisharal.”
“ The word
notzrim, and the root is natzar. The
real explanation of the word in Hebrew is to safe keep, to keep until a later
time, to hide it in a way that will be revealed later.”
“The word netzer
is used only three times in the Tanakh and everywhere it is mentioned it has to
do ONLY with Efrayim.”
Yeshayahu
(Isaiah) 11:1 p
303
“And there shall come forth a rod out
of the stem of Yishai, and a Netzer-Branch shall grow out of His roots.”
This is a prophecy of Yahusha
haMashiak ... and here He is called a Netzer!
Mattityahu
2:23
p 678
“And he came and dwelt in a city
called Natzereth: that it might be
fulfilled what was spoken by the navi, He shall be called a Natzereth.”
-
Again
Messiah is called a Netzer
-
and
the foot note says “so naturally he came and dwelt in a city called Natzeret -
or Netzer.” :) - amazing! :)
Yahukanon
(John) 15:5
p 771
“I am the Vine, you are the netsarim;
....”
****
So
let’s look at what Lew White says because he explains it so well....
WHO
ARE THE NATSARIM?
The first Natsarim were the early
followers of Yahusha.
The church fathers called the Natsarim
heretics because they obeyed the Commandments while holding to the Testimony of
Yahusha.
Here in the last day, we are reappearing on
the Earth just before Yahusha’s return. “And those who have insight shall shine like
the brightness of the expanse, and those who lead many to righteousness like
the stars forever and ever." Daniel 12:3
We
reject the leaven of men’s teachings, and hold to Yahusha as our teaching
authority. A yoke is a body of teachings. (No wonder Messiah said His yoke is
easy!)
In the last days, during the Great
Distress, we will have a literal glow about us when the sun darkens and
the moon glows blood-red. People will be howling in all the lands.
The powers (authorities) of the heavens
will be shaken, because there will be a "changing of the guard"
taking place, referred to as birth pangs.
The powers currently having sovereignty
over the Earth will be shaken from their moorings when the children of Yahuah
are revealed -
- the universe
groans in expectation of our birth. We have been "begotten" from above,
but our actual birth will occur at the return of our Creator, Yahusha
ha'Mashiak, after the "distress" of those days (Mt. 24:29-31).
THE
TRUTH ABOUT THE NATSARIM
We were given the commission to teach
all nations to obey all that we were
commanded to obey.
We occupy our post,
protecting that which we were
commissioned to cherish.
The thing we guard is not only discarded
as rubbish by most, but it is the reason we are so despised.
The term for us is
commonly misspelled "Nazarenes"
- should be = (NATSARIM).
We are a sect named after the original followers of Yahusha of
Natsarith (see Act 24:5).
Acts 24:5 p 803 “For we have found this man a pestilent
fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Yahudim throughout the olam
(world), and a ringleader of the sect of the Notsrim (Natsarim).”
We are guardians, -- Natsarim literally translates as watchmen,
guardians, protectors; it also means branches, as in off-spring or descendants.
The
idea of branches being off-spring or descendants indicates that we are
continuing contact with the ROOT, so we live in the teachings that provide the
nourishing life the ROOT provides.
We are referred to as first-fruits having been sealed with the Father's Name (Yahuah) in
our foreheads.
Our obedience
is evidence of our belief.
Gentiles graft into the commonwealth of
Yisharal through the Covenant (Eph 2:8-13).
Our obedience perfects our belief. We guard two primary things: Yahuah's
Name,
and Yahuah's Word (His Covenant with Yisharal).
Rev. 14, which describes the first-fruits and you will notice we
ABOUT 2 things: "obey the Commandments of Alahim AND hold to the Testimony of
Yahusha".
We have been pursued by the dragon from
the beginning.
OUR
CONTINUAL OPPONENT is THE DRAGON
What
the early church fathers said about the original followers of Yahusha.
The dragon's religious architecture of
rebellion became an institution of
deceit. =
= The Catechetical School of Alexandria,
Egypt and the church fathers who
taught there developed what ultimately became Christianity, and later
Roman Universalism, Catholicism.
These early church fathers of Alexandria
wrote about a certain sect, the Natsarim. Many of these early Christians were former
sun-worshippers that adopted a belief in the Mashiak (Messiah) of Yisharal, Yahusha.
They worked predominantly with Greek texts, yet from reading their
Greek letters, we quickly discern that they despised the Natsarim
whose existence seemed to threaten their teachings.
One of these church fathers’ indicated
that these Natsarim possessed the writings of MattithYahu (Matthew),
and stated that they
were in Hebrew letters, as they had been originally written.
These facts, and more to follow, clearly
contradict what many people today have been led to believe about the original
followers of Yahusha.
~~~Nobody called the
Natsarim - Christian!!
Due to the church fathers, the Hebrew roots of the faith were
suppressed, and only Greek roots developed.
The 2 most uniform traits
among all the church fathers was their condemnation of the Natsarim, and their rabid anti-Semitism.
Modern seminaries (seed-plots) promote
the teachings of the church fathers, the Greek and Egyptian men that sought to
eliminate the former Natsarim.
The Natsarim were spoken against by
those in authority in the days of Paul:
"And we think it right to hear from
you what you think, for indeed, concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken
against everywhere." (ACT 28:22).
This sect, the NATSARIM,
was suppressed by the early church fathers, and by the developing hierarchy at
the earliest formal school of Christianity:
THE CATECHETICAL SCHOOL OF ALEXANDRIA
This school at Alexandria was founded in
190 CE by headmaster Pantaenus of
Alexandria, and funded by the Fiscus Judaicus (Jewish tax started by
Vaspasian in 70 CE).
The term by which the early followers of
Yahusha of Natsarith were called is found at Acts 24:5, misspelled Nazarenes.
The reason they were so despised by everyone
is simple to understand. ...
This
entire planet is under the influence of a supremely dark force that has been in
charge over mankind for the last 6000+ years, since Adam and Chava lost
sovereignty over Earth. This dark force is called “the dragon,” --- and we see in the following verse two
reasons for the dragon’s hatred of the Natsarim:
“And the dragon was enraged with the
woman, and he went to fight with the remnant of her seed, those
guarding the commands of Alahim and possessing the witness of
Yahusha Mashiak.” Rev 12:17
The dragon is enraged at the woman
Yisharal, and fights against a remnant of her seed (off-spring of those who
obey the Covenant), who guard the Covenant, and possess belief in
Yahusha.
...Obeying
the Commandments and possessing the witness of Yahusha are not what the church
fathers did, and they weren’t going to
stand for anyone else doing so either.
The 4th-century church father known as Jerome described the Natsarim as “those
who accept Messiah in such a way that they do not cease to observe the Old
Law.”
This was in
stark contrast with them! They followed Constantine’s order to have nothing in
common with the hostile rabble of the Yahudim. Rather than live by every Word
that proceeds from the mouth of Yahuah, they lived by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of Constantine.
-They want nothing to do with the old paths (Yir.
6:16).
What they call the “Old Law” is the Torah,
the 10 Commandments, guarded by the Natsarim.
The dragon (Rev 12) pursues the
offspring (Natsarim) of the Woman (Yisharal) through systematic persecutions
because of doctrinal competition and control.
The Hebrew roots of the fig tree (Yisharal)
remain a threat to this dragon’s bad tree, but Yahusha has given His Natsarim
His Torah, and this is the axe (Sword, His Word) that will become the downfall
of the false system (Roman beast) ridden by the Great Prostitute, which has
made the nations drunk from the golden cup of abominations (like sacraments).
~~
( Notice it says in White’s work -
“Roman beast”... and I am learning/ seeing - that Islam is a force used... by
Rome... Rome and the demonic may just be
the head of it)
~~
She (The great prostitute) is the teaching authority (Greek, Didascalia,
Latin, Magisterium) controls all beliefs.
Yahusha’s cousin, Yahukanon, said:
“And even now the axe is laid to the
root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire.” Luke 3:9
Worldwide, there are about 1 billion
people living (producing bad fruit) according to the doctrinal errors (a bad
tree) of a few men called the “church fathers.” These men molded the patterns
of early Christianity, and in their own words declare they were not
Natsarim, but rather suppressed the Natsarim as
heretics and accused them of perversion for obeying the Commandments.
These church fathers were men who failed
to adopt the Covenant, but instead pursued
control over doctrines as they interpreted them.
Some castrated themselves and
others, became monks, took vows of poverty, celibacy, silence,
and condemned
the Natsarim for holding
to the Torah while professing belief in Yahusha.
Celibacy is a Hindu thing.
Mixed teachings are the
leaven that’s filled the whole Earth (the whole lump of dough).
Those whose thinking has been affected
by the false doctrines of these early apostates view the Natsarim today as
heretics also,
and it is the same “spirit of
error” that possessed the church fathers that is at the root of the bad tree,
producing bad fruit.
The good
fruit is the obedience of the
set-apart ones, because obeying the Covenant produces love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
-This
tree will not be cut down by the reapers.
-The
tree that is against the Covenant (lawless) will be eliminated, and be left
with neither root nor branch (offspring).
Our condemnation will be derived from
our own words.
-Let’s examine what the early church
fathers had to say concerning Natsarim.
The fourth century Church Father, Epiphanius, gave a detailed description
of the Natsarim:
“We shall now especially consider heretics
who call themselves Natsarim; they are mainly Jews and nothing else. They make
use not only of the New Testament, but they also use in a way the Old Testament
of the Jews; for they do not forbid the books of the Law, the Prophets, and the
Writings ... so that they are approved of by the Jews, from whom the Nazarenes
do not differ in anything, and they profess all the dogmas pertaining to the
prescriptions of the Law and to the customs of the Jews, except they believe in
Messiah. They preach that there is but one God, and His Son
Yeshua the Messiah. But they are very learned in the Hebrew language; for they,
like the Jews, read the whole Law, then the Prophets...They differ from the
Jews because they believe in Messiah, and from the Christians in that they are
to this day bound to the Jewish rites, such as circumcision, the Sabbath, and
other ceremonies. They have the Good news according to Matthew in its entirety
in Hebrew. For it is clear that they still preserve this, in the Hebrew
alphabet, as it was originally written.”
~~
Now doesn’t this sound like who we are
becoming!! ???!!!
~~
In stark contrast to the Natsarim,
Epiphanius would forbid the Law, Prophets, and Writings (TaNaK), often
referred to by Yahusha.
He mentions how the document of
MatithYahu is written in the Hebrew script. The Sabbath observance (the weekday
blessed at Creation) was observed by Yahusha, yet those who walk as He walked,
are heretics.
This record hits on how doctrinally
arrogant things had become very early, and why Christian doctrines
are so different from the REAL first followers of Yahusha.
After Irenaeus, a new flagrant error
crept in called “Apostolic Succession” along with the idea that the “church”
hierarchy could supersede any Commandment, and usurp the name Yisharal for itself.
There is evidence the Natsarim sect
continued to exist until at least the 13th century.
~
The Catholic writings of Bonacursus
entitled Against the Heretics refers to Natsarim who were also called
Pasagini. This term meant they lived in the passes and cliffs, hiding from the
cruelty of the church (circus) :) fathers.
Waldensians
was
another term for us, a reference to the valleys (walled hills) in which we hid
away from those hating us.
~~
WE know from other reading that
Mennonites were earlier known as Waldensians!
~~
Bonacursus says: “Let those who are not yet
acquainted with them, please note how perverse their belief and doctrine are.
First, they teach that we should obey the Law of Moses according to the letter - the
Sabbath, and circumcision, and the legal precepts
still being in force. Furthermore, to increase their error, they condemn and
reject all the Church Fathers, and the whole Roman Church."
We were still around in the 13th
century!
Today we who are Natsarim still obey that “Old
Law” (the Covenant, as it is written), and we still “reject all the church fathers,
and the whole Roman church.”
We are accused of being “Jewish” but we
are really made up of all the lost
tribes in captivity among the nations, as the Prodigal Son found himself and
returned to the Covenant, the Father’s household (Torah- observant ones).
We
are those described at Rev 14:12;
1. We hold to the testimony of Yahusha
2. We obey the Commandments of Yahuah.
For these we are branded as perverse
heretics.
We call on the true (and only) Name,
Yahuah, each time we utter the Deliverer’s Name, Yahusha ha’Mashiak.
We have never been part of the broad
road.
Tertullus, a hired accuser of Paul,
spoke these words at Acts 24:5:
“For we have found this man a pestilent
fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Yahudim throughout the world and
a ringleader of the sect (G139, hairesis) of the Natsarim (G3480) . .
.”
The Greek word hairesis above gives us
the word heresy, translated sect. We are sure the sect being spoken of was not
the Christians, because Christians developed later.
**
Amein.
